


Growing Pains

by ubixuitous



Category: Free!
Genre: Camping, Fluff, M/M, Smut, idek, implied smut anyway??
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-15
Updated: 2014-06-15
Packaged: 2018-02-04 20:01:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1791445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ubixuitous/pseuds/ubixuitous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>College AU: Nagisa and Rei go camping, and maybe they both get more out of the trip than they'd anticipated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Growing Pains

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! 
> 
> This is basically a copy+pasted version of the same piece I'd written for another fandom, but I thought it'd be cute with NagiRei in the place of the original couple, so I thought, why the heck not have both?
> 
> [In which case, if I've forgotten to edit out any names or features or descriptions and change them appropriately, please don't hesitate to let me know! :3 ]

"Wake up, it's Friday!"

Rei groaned, rolling onto his side, and smacked away the hand pushing at him through the blankets.

"What time is it..?" he croaked, eyes still heavy with sleep and voice slightly rough. His hands searched around for his phone, fingers blindly grasping at the sheets and under the pillow.

"Seven," chirped his roommate, unnaturally eager and bubbly for this early in the morning.

Rei groaned again, burying his face in the pillow, brows pulling into a deep frown as he whined, "God, Nagisa, why are you up already? Go back to bed."

Pouting, Nagisa launched himself onto the younger boy's bed, earning a yelp from the whining bundle of limbs under the thick quilt. "Oh, c'mon, you promised we'd leave early. Get up! I even finished packing and made sandwiches for the trip."

The male under the sheets sighed audibly, mumbling, "For heaven's sake, I did not look forward to the last day of school so that you could wake me up at seven the next morning." Now, Rei was usually a fantastic morning person. He loved waking up early, getting himself all washed up and prim and proper and finished with breakfast by eight in the morning, but after a month of exam stress, and three straight weeks on two hours of sleep each night, Rei was a bit on the thinner end of his patience. Reluctantly, he pushed the blanket off, eyes closing almost instantly at the bright light pouring in past the blinds over the windows. He forced them open again, squinting up at his friend, almost skeptical, before sighing and closing his eyes again in a resigned manner, murmuring, "How long have you been up?"

"Since five." Nagisa let himself fall on top of the other boy, chin resting over Rei's chest and eyes unblinking as he stared up at the still drowsy boy. Pulling on his best pleading face, Nagisa sat up again and poked the other's chest a few times. "Come on, Rei-chan, you promised."

Well, he had promised, hadn't he?

Rei sighed, brows drawn together irritably. "Alright, alright, I'm up. Now get off me, I have to shower."

 

And maybe, just maybe, the broad smile that stretched itself across Nagisa's face was worth it. Rei resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the pleased giggle that escaped Nagisa's lips, ignoring the way his chest sunk just a bit when the older boy's eyes disappeared behind his thick lashes, curving up and smiling along with his mouth.

 

* * *

 

 

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"...Do you know when we'll be there?"

"No."

"...Do you want to play cards with me?"

 _Sigh_.

"I'm _driving_ , Nagisa."

 

.

 

"Want some beer?"

"Nagisa..."

"Yeah?"

" _No_."

 

* * *

 

 

It was noon by the time they'd arrived at their destination, Nagisa practically bouncing off the walls of the car in his excitement. Even Rei had wound down from his earlier mood, no longer tired or sleepy, and he laughed along with Nagisa's silly impersonations and commentary whilst listening to the radio. Parking just a few meters away from the hiking trail marked along the edge of the road, Rei switched off the engine of the car and glanced around at all the other cars and vans parked around the roughly pitched parking lot. He looked up at the small motel just in front of them, then at the even smaller two storey building beside it, its walls made of brick and its windows long and wide, thrown open to invite fresh air into the offices inside.

The park was a popular spot for campers and vacationing families during this time of the year. Most people rented cabins from the offices in front; the cabins were situated a little ways away from the clearing they were currently standing in, hauling their backpacks onto their backs and looking around. Other people chose to rent out a room in the motel itself, spending the day in the park and the woods beyond it before turning in for the night, while others yet simply camped outside, on nature's bedding of grass and weeds, the soil home to a number of creatures which Rei was not particularly fond of.

"Do we have to go inside?"

Rei looked over at Nagisa who was nodding towards the office building, before following his gaze and humming thoughtfully as he adjusted the straps of his backpack over his shoulders. "I don't think so...I mean, we're not renting out any rooms or cabins, and we're keeping the car keys with us, right? I don't...think...I mean, I don't know. What do you think?"

Blinking slowly, Nagisa peered up both buildings, beads of sweat already forming along his temples, his eyes squinting against the harsh light of the afternoon sun. He shrugged, throwing a glance at his friend, before flashing him a grin. "Nah, let's just go find our spot."

 

Their 'spot' happened to be some fifty minute walk away and was buried inside the dense growth of the woods just beside the park, overgrown with massive trees and dewy moss. It was nothing special, but they'd been regulars to this very spot since the first time they'd gone camping together with their respective families six years ago. Nagisa insisted on going there every summer, putting as much enthusiasm and energy into the trip as he'd done as a fifteen year old.

They walked in silence, neither of the two having the strength nor the energy nor the will to talk and walk while carrying tents and backpacks worth their weight in industrial sized barrels of iron under the scorching July sun. Instead, Rei focused on his footing, stepping over rocks and stones and skipping over fallen branches, his breaths coming out in short, laboured huffs. Nagisa lingered a few steps behind, his gaze falling every so often on the former's slim hips, the fall of loose, baggy shorts over slender legs and the gentle rise of a curved bottom just below the hem of his even more loose tank top.

You see, six years ago, Rei was just like any other teenaged boy going through the awkward phases of puberty. Nagisa had seen Rei grow and mature, watched as the younger boy unsurely looked at his own reflection in the school's bathroom mirrors, small, red pimples peppered across his cheeks and his too long nose and arms and legs. Everything had just felt so out of proportion and uneven, and Nagisa could relate only too well, having gone through the same. Like, don't get it wrong, Nagisa had still found the older boy to be attractive and all. But now ― now, Rei was like some god damn Vogue model. At least, in Nagisa's eyes anyway.

But, he might be biased ― whatever.

Gone was the awkward, pimpled boy with limbs too long for his body and features too wide for his face. He'd grown to fit his features, evened out in places that Nagisa had not even noticed on his friend before, and filled out, well, quite "beautifully" if he may say so, compliments of his dedicated work-out regimen. And, as the saying goes, one must appreciate hard work and dedication, and who was Nagisa to decline appreciating such a fine specimen whose hard work showed explicitly in the muscles of his arms and back and chest and torso and ass, and ― oh, they'd already reached. 

"Finally," Nagisa groaned, dropping his bag to the ground, his skin red from the exertion and heat as he let himself fall onto the grass to catch his breath, legs outstretched and weight supported on the palms of his hands. "Who picked a spot so far away anyway..." he grumbled, leaning forward to rub at the sore muscles of his calves.

"You did," Rei supplied helpfully, tossing his bag down as well before propping his hands up against his hips as he looked around and took a deep breath. "So, let's set up the tents first?"

Whining, Nagisa shook his head and rolled over, flopping down over his belly, arms outstretched and face buried against the canvas of his bag, voice muffled. "If I melt, will you still love me?"

Rei snorted, crouching down to flick at Nagisa's head of blond hair, before chuckling. "Dunno, maybe." 

Nagisa pouted at that and lifted his head to look up at the younger boy, his magenta eyes reflecting the look often worn by poor, abused animals. "That makes me sad, Rei-chan."

Laughing, Rei straightened up again as he stood up, dusting off the back of his shorts as he shook his head a little. "I'm sorry. But hey, let's just get this over with, yeah? I don't want us rushing with the tents when it's about to get dark or something."

Nagisa opened his mouth to remind Rei that there was still a good six hours until it would start getting dark, but ― what the heck, he loved this punctual dork. Obediently, Nagisa sat up and pushed the rolled up tent towards the younger boy, offering him a sickly sweet smile. "Get to work then, Rei-chan."

Smile faltering, Rei sighed and took the tent from the blond, because really, what else had he been expecting? Rolling the casing down and off of the tent, he set to work, unfolding it and setting up the thin beams which would act as a makeshift frame for their temporary residence of three nights. He tried to avoid looking at Nagisa as he worked, knowing that if he did spare him a glance, he'd only see that mischievous, pleased Cheshire cat grin on his cheeky little face that he just _knew_ was there. 

Exhausted, Rei fell to the ground, legs crossed, and pushed his hair back with both hands as he finished, looking up at the newly finished tent another forty minutes later. 

"Good work, Rei-chan," quipped Nagisa, quite unhelpfully, as he tipped his head back and took a sip from the can of Coke in his hand. Swallowing audibly, he wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his t-shirt, before leaning back, using his bag as a support, one leg spread out in front and the other bent, bare knee pointing skywards as he shook the can in his hand idly, expression thoughtful. 

"Let's go look for Big Foot."

 

Rei sighed and fell onto his back, head resting against his own bag as he closed his eyes. "Sure."


End file.
